The Southern Israelite. (Augusta, Ga.) 1925-1986, August 12, 1966, Image 2

The Southern Israelite., August 12, 1966, Image 2

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Newspaper Page Text( i »|f Two THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE Friday, August 12, 1966 THL SOUTHERN ISRAELITE Published weekly by Southern Newspaper Enterprises, 390 Court- land St., N. E„ Atlanta, Georgia 30303, TR. 6-8249, TR. 6-8240. Sec ond class postage paid at Atlanta, Georgia. Yearly subscription five dollars. The Southern Israelite Invites literary contributions and correspondence but is not to be considered as sharing the views expressed by writers. DEADLINE is 5 P.M. FRIDAY, but material received earlier will have a much better chance of publication. Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publisher Kathleen Nease, Jeanne Loeb, Joseph Redlich Vida Goldgar, Harry Rose, Betty Meyer, Kathy Wood Georgia Press Association NATIONAL NEWSPAPER AS§ f> C > •n > m 7 Arts Features Jewish Telegraphic Agency World Presa Drop Bar Mitzvah GUEST EDITORIAL Not long ago an Orthodox rabbi in Columbus came out unequivocally for the abolition of the Bar Mitzvah ceremony. There have been suggestions before that the Bar Mitzvah events—like Jewish weddings and, even, like Jewish funerals, have become perversions of all that they once stood for in Jewish tradition. But the Columbus rabbi did not focus his attack on the gross vulgarism which attends the Bar Mitzvah ceremony, at least in its social aspects, following the ritual itself. His anger was aroused by the fact that, as he put it, the Bar Mitzvah marks the end of Jewish education for the boy who has “become a man.” Not only that, said the rabbi, but the whole process of education for Bar Mitzvah has become a distortion of the Jew ish educational process. The goal is not to create some under standing and acquaintance with Jewish lore in the boy, but simply and solely to enable him to have the ceremony in a synagogue as the required status element prior to the orgiastic wining and dining which is now part of the Jewish tradition in American life. COMMENT and OPINION ‘JEWISH KICK’ Everybody’s talking about it—the pres ent-day fad of the “Jewish kick” in American culture. On one hand, the magazine section of the closest journal America has to being a national newspaper carries an article in which one bright gentleman is quoted as saying that it is ndt really necessary to be Jewish to be part of the intellectual Establishment, the In-Establishment of the hour, if there be one such. That remark, though harmless, might win fewer friends and influence less people than Dale Carnegie ever estimated. But it is apparently well-meaning. Meanwhile, a flood of books, articles, reference, comments, stories, movies, songs are vying for public at tention with emphasis on a Jewish “culture kick.” We used the term “culture kick” to separate much of what passes for “Jewish” with what is really so. What is true and worthwhile is fine. As for what is low taste— who needs it! ' B’nai B’rith’s “Jewish Heritage,” adult education quarterly, warns that in the Jewish culture - kick fad there is a spilling over into vulgar misuse of Jewish themes and symbols. Public interest has made Jewish themes “the most marketable of commodities,” says B’nai B’rith publication. The “go-go” stuff ranges from “borscht belt trivia” to low - grade records. We’ve had some examples locally on the radio. Vulgarity, however it is served up, is still vulgarity. No amount of public popularity or approval is worth allowing hallowed Jewish attitudes on behavior and inter-personal rela tionships to be debased in cheap junk. Gresham’s Law applied to society can easily become operative—with the worthless driving the worthwhile out of circulation. —Pittsburg; Jewish Chronicle BEGIN’S RESIGNATION plete unification of Herut and the Liberals and an understanding with Rafi, which he believes is imperative to the formation of a strong alternative to the Eshkol regime. He decided, therefore, to remove himself from the party leadership. Appreciative as we may be of Mr. Begin’s move as an act of greaf patriot ism and statesmanship, we cannot hide our uneasiness about the effect it may have on the future of revisionism, the national movement, and the fortunes of Zionism and Israel. There is no need to recapitulate the great role of Mr. Begin as soldier, statesman and leader of the Jabotinsky movement. At the moment we are mainly concerned with the ramifications his resignation may cause. We recognize, of course, the validity of the truism that no movement must depend entirely on one man and cannot go on without him. This is especi ally applicable to Revisionism with its deep roots in Jewish history, national needs and aspirations. But there can be no doubt that Revisionists, Zionists generally, and thought ful Israelis will feel poorer without the pene trating, forthright and inspiring appearances of Menachem Begin as the leader of the only non-conforming and uncompromising Jewish party. We fully realize the paramount neces sity for the formation of a broad front capable of changing the regime in Israel and setting up a government on a wide national basis. As Revisionists, however, who have been reared on a belief that national health and strength cannot be built on opportunism, but on a pur ity of principles and ideological steadfastness, we wonder whether it is wise to forego the leadership of a Menachen Begin for the sake of gaining the understanding of die-hard anti- Revisionists. . . UNITED ZIONIST REVISIONISTS OF AMERICA NEWSLETTER U. S. VIOLATES CONSTITUTION The fact that an Orthodox rabbi was the critic should serve as a reminder that in the shtetl of pre-Hitler Europe, no such fuss was made over the ceremony. On the appointed Sabbath, the Bar Mitzvah candidate was called to the Torah, recited the appropriate blessings in the presence of his im mediate family and that was that. However, it may be argued that the Columbus rabbi is aiming at the wrong target. Abolition of the Bar Mitzvah may perhaps end the caricature of Jewish “education” aimed solely at the ceremony. But it is hard to agree that such Jewish learning will be replaced by a better kind of education if the Bar Mitzvah is removed from the American scene. Wholly apart from the certainty that Jewish parents would rise in wrath at the loss of a ceremony which gives them a chance—among other objectives—to show that they can, for this occasion, at least, keep up with the Rothschilds, the call to discard the Bar Mitzvah rite offers no concrete hopes for anything better in Jewish education. If hundreds of American Jewish parents force their sons to go to Hebrew school solely to make the Bar Mitzvah party possible, what will make them do so if the rite is abolished? On second thought, perhaps it would be best to leave well enough alone, no matter how little well enough there is. JEWISH •ROSH HASHANA September 15-16, Thursday and Friday •YOM KIPPUR September 24, Saturday •SUCCOT September 29-30 Thursday and Friday •SHEMINI ATZERET Octaber 6, Thursday CALENDAR •SIMHAS TORAH October 7. Friday ‘HANUKA December 8-15 Thursday - Thursday •HOLIDAY BEGINS SUNDOWN PREVIOUS DAY 40NG KONG Atlanta's Newest, Largest and Finest CHINESE AND AMERICAN k<5TAl)RAMT LUNCH ■ DINNER * A LA CARTE OPEN 11 A. M. TILL 12 MIDNIGHT DAILY AND SUNDAY ■K S«rvln* Your Favorite Beverage ■* FREE PARKING CMitral Parking ••rag* Center Lacfcla * Palrllg I tv attar I PAL dally and all day fwnday. Twa Havr Limit. Member Dinar** Club and Amarlcan Ixgraa* Music by MiiuL Prfuata Dining and bangaat liana t« LucKia rr. icw. ja. mi it c Menachem Begin’s resignation as head of Herut came as a shock. He gave as his reason for resigning hostility to him among members of the Liberal Party and Rafi; He considers himself personally as an obstacle to the com- % t ri tag t Extract*‘ from "The Grophlc Hl»*ory of *Ka Jawi»h Harltoga.” Edltad by P. Wollmon-T»omir. FAbli*had by Shan gold Publlabar* ond Foundation for A Graphic Hlatory bf JowUh Litaroturo. 27 William Stroat, Now York, N.Y., 10005. - A Seven Arts Feature. The Prophets 16. IDDO THE SEER Hfinn V1J? Jeroboam’* hand Is para lyzed as he extends it to arrest Iddo the prophet. "Thr altar was rent, and the ashes poured out . . . according to the sign which the man of Hod had given”(1.Kings 13.5). Iddo preached during the reign of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, according to the rabbis and Jose phus (Antiquities VIII, 8.5; see also 2 Chronicles 12,15). It was he who came from Judah to Beth-el and prophesied the destruction of the altar which Jeroboam had built there and had sacrificed upon: “O altar . . . Behold, a son shall be bom unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places” (1 Kings 13.2). He performed signs before the king: the altar was rent, the ashes poured out upon the earth, and Jeroboam’s hand, which he had stretched out to seize Iddo, dried up. Only after the prophet entreated God on the king’s behalf was Jeroboam cured. After this in cident, however, Iddo Was enticed by a false prophet to eat at the latter’s table, thus violating God’s command, and shortly after leaving that prophet’s house, he was killed by a lion. The chronicles of Rehoboam, Abijah and Jero boam were written in “the commentary of the prophet Iddo,” apparently a synonym for “the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer” (2 Chronicles 12.15; 13.22). We are glad that the American Jewish Congress, under the leadership of its new President, Rabbi Arthur J. Lelyveld, has strongly protested to the U.S. Post Office its decision to issue a “Christmas Stamp” depict ing the Madonna and Child in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Readers of the United Israel Bulletin will recall that this publication, in past years, has continuously protested to the American Gov ernment the issuance of such stamps favoring one religion as against others. Letters to sev eral Postmaster-Generals had proved of no avail. James Bryce, in “The American Com monwealth,” reminded Americans that “The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion, according to the declarations and acts of the first four Presidents, founding fathers of the United States: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. All religious bodies are absolutely equal before the Law, unrecognized by the Law, except as voluntary associations of priv- ate citizens. Postmaster-General Lawrence F. O Brian, through his Jewish Deputy Ira Kapenstein—how convenient—rejected the American Jewish Congress’ protest as in past years other Postmaster-Generals, and through this same Jewish Deputy—had rejected our protests by weak and dubious argumentations. One road only remains for the AJC and other American groups upholding the U.S. Consti tution, and that is to institute a suit against the Government—come what may! UNITED ISRAEL BULLETIN TALMUDIC TREASURES Collected and Translated By Jacob L. Friend • R. Yanaai said, It is nof in our power to explain either the prosperity of the wicked or the afflictions of the righteous. (“Man can not explain: Why do the wicked flourish? nor, Why do the righteous suffer? The eternal question to which there is no answer”). • R. Mattitya, the son of Cheresh, said, Be beforehand in salutation of peace to all men; and be rather a tail to lions than a head to foxes. (This is in opposition to a proverb then current both in Rome and Palestine). • Samuel the younger used to say, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: lest the Lord see it and it displeases Him not and He turns away His wrath from him (unto thee).